DIG INTO READING

2013 Summer Reading Club

will begin

Monday, June 10

and run until

Friday, July 12

The program is open to children 

of reading age through the 7th grade.

&

For children too young to read themselves, we offer:

The little ones can snuggle in an adults lap, enjoy being read to and
 participate along with big brothers and sisters.

Depending on their reading abilities, children may set goals to read by the book or by the page.  

Counting by the page rewards advanced readers who enjoy larger books and allows them to progress just as quickly as younger readers who are still in smaller books.

**Story Time schedule

will be provided at registration**

Our traditional closing party will be held on

Friday, July 14 at 1:00 p.m.

&

The Red River County Public Library

Summer Reading Club 

is sponsored by:

Friends of the Library

&

your Clarksville Dairy Queen.

You may register anytime from June 10 - July 9.

Program concludes July 12.

Children may record up to 3 books a day.

Only library books may be recorded for credit.

Books must be checked out and read at home.

(or at Grandma's or on a trip....)

Very Pinteresting

If you spend any time at all on the Internet, you are aware of the phenomena know as Pinterest.  Should you have ventured in the world of Pinterest, you already know how fun (and addicting) it is.  If you have not yet taken the plunge, it is time and we are here to help you; we recently launched a Pinterest site for the library.

The best way to describe Pinterest is to liken it to a bulletin board, albeit it a virtual one.  Those great ideas you find online, the recipes, decorating ideas, the beautiful pictures, the funny pictures, anything that strikes your fancy can be "pinned" to your Pinterest boards which you personalize and organize with your own categories.  Then, somewhat like Facebook and Twitter, you can also "follow" other pinners whose tastes and interest match your own.

Take a look at Pinning 101  for a good overview and some pinning etiquette.  Then browse the library's boards where you will find all things book related.  Hopefully you will decide to follow us and start your own Pinterest experience, but if you get addicted, don't say you weren't warned!

Library Learning Patch Nature Club--All About Trees

This week our nature club class was all about trees. Our book was My Favorite Tree.  The book not only features many trees, but also tells about their traits, wild companions, and uses.

The children were treated to a very informative presentation by Master Naturalist Dennis Wilson.  He is a staff specialist at Oklahoma State Agricultural Experimental Station in Oklahoma.  Mr. Wilson brought many specimens of both needles from conifers and branches from deciduous trees.

Explaining how pine trees grow

See the little flower?

The children were fascinated by a little inch worm that hitched a ride on one of the branches.

Now, an update to the garden!. Just look at our progress:

Cucumbers are blooming

Lettuce ready for another harvest

Almost ready to climb the teepee

Healthy sunflowers

Stay tuned for more fun next week!

                                         
                                               

Library Learning Patch Nature Club--The Web of Life and Our First Harvest

Today the group learned about how everything in nature is interrelated. The book for this session was The Web of Life.

A Giant Book!

The children played a game demonstrating how everything in nature is connected and discussed how one thing affects another.

Now it was harvest time!!

Our lettuce crop

Some of the radishes were ready also.

 Yummy  radishes!

Looks like salad with dinner tonight!

 Dividing the first harvest

The group planted new herbs (the first ones did not survive the last freeze) and lots of petunias. We hope the petunias discourage the squash bugs.

Stay tuned! We have our first blooms on one of the tomato plants, the sunflowers are growing, and peas are climbing.

Buzzz-Learning All About Bees

The Library Learning Patch Nature Club was fortunate this week to have a dynamic duo--Bobby and Lisa Cornelius--as our guest instructors. Bobby has been a beekeeper for years and is quite knowledgeable about them.

The Amazing Bee

He  brought some of his equipment as well as an empty hive box.

 He described in detail how the bees get the nectar and produce honey. The children were amazed to learn how many flowers a bee must visit in order to gather enough nectar to produce honey. He also gave them a good tip for what  they should do if  stung by a bee--don't pull out the stinger, scrape it off.   He passed out activity books which featured bees.

Lisa Cornelius, our Director,  devised a game to teach the children how a bee pollinates our flowers.[source] She filled paper bags with Cheetos and gave each child a paper bee. They visited the flower bag, took a Cheeto, thereby gathering nectar. She then gave each child a flower. After visiting the flower bag, each child went to someone else's  flower and rubbed it, thereby spreading the pollen (Cheeto yellow). What fun they had.

What a cute idea!

 Passing out the flowers and bees

Gathering Pollen

Pollinating

                                 
                                             

The snack today was honey, apples and graham crackers.

Then, it was time to go to the garden and water--their favorite activity!

Plants Can't Live Without Water!

Kat Kraft checked her worms--so far they have not frozen!

 We enjoyed our beautiful Spring day yesterday. Let's hope we don't have a frost tonight!

Stay tuned!!.